Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-10-16
CHAPTER VIII.
OUT OF THE GOLDEN MIST.

CHAPTER VIII.
OUT OF THE GOLDEN MIST.
We were back again at Rousdon-Dan
Gulliyer and Job and Ito begin again
such portion Of the old life as was posi-
BILE. 1--WE will go on" said Dan, sadly,
'iust as we used to 60 on before he ever
came. We will forget that he ever came.
You will forget that you are a young
lady"
Alas! not only was the old time gone,
but nothing like it would ever come again.
Will had torn up the old time and thrown
il away, 1t was dead. But the memory
was left. One could sit and think till day
after day that summer of 1903 unrolled
itself again, and could rember every word
he said, even the lightest, with every ges-
ture and every look.
The people at Lyme welcomed us all
with a cordiality which meant not only
gratitude for the past, but hope for the
future. Since that dreadful day Of rebuke
when Joshna's delivery of goods was dis
covered to be so much sea water and moth
ing else, the town had been
without brandy. Campion's fine old
Jamaica rum, well enough in its way, was
a poor substitute for the right good Nantes
which Dan had provided. A taste had
been developed which was doomed to
for no one succeeded Dan.
A man cannot suddenly become smuggler.
Relations have to be established on the OPP
posite shore, q connection to be formed at
home; it is a business which is the growth
of years. Now Dan represented the third,
and his sons the fourth generation, OF o
long career in the trade, during which the
whole business for this part of the coast had
dropped into the hands Of Gulliver q Com
pany, smugglers to the nobility, gentry and
clergy of Lyme Regis and the surrounding
country. Imagine, therefore, what blow
it was to the district when the fatal arrest
happened, followed by the dreadful discoV-
cry of the sea water. So that, when we
came home again, there were visits paid to
us not only Of congratulation on our re-
turn and coincidence for poor Jephthah,
but also of hope and temptation. Mr..
Mallock, J. P, walked all the way from
Lyme on purpose to see his old
friend again and to hint that the naked
condition of his cellar, as regarded French
brandy, was deplorable. The Rev.
BENJAMIN Burden, who long before the end
of Dams two years captivity, had got
through his four kegs, came to say that he
was reduced to cider, and that of the thin
nest. Dan received these visitors with
great politeness, but held out no hopes that
the old trade would be revived. First, he
said, the Dancing Polly was gone; he
should never again find boat he could
trust so well; then his nephew, Joshua
Mech. wasgone, pressed while busy with
the kegs; though how them kegs turned
out to be sea water, he couldn't say; and
Jephthah was gone; and he was getting
old, and a second conviction meant CAPT
tai sentence. Then his money in John Hunt
spills hands was bringing him little
income by itself, and he had given his
promise not to smuggle any more. think
the old man had learned to look on snug
Cling, compared with the great game of
war, as a small thing.
It was strange to come back to this
queer atmosphere, in which crime appear
ed no sin and law breaking was encOur-
aged by the administrators of the law.
The strangeness passed off after awhile,
and then the two years Of life in the state.
~ house of the old city square appeared,
in its turn, dreamy and unreal.
We came back to the old place, and be-
gan in broken winged way to resume the
old ways. Then, naturally, l began to
make the house and the housekeeping
more in accordance with my recently &C
quired ideas. Dan acquiesced, wondering;
Job tried to adapt himself to my ways
with the good will which always dis
tinguished him, but with less success. He
betOok himself to work on the farm, and
is assuming the smock frock immedi-
ately changed, just as he used to do, the
roll Of the sailor for the SLOUGH OF the
laborer.
John Huntspill wrote to me from time
to time. Madame made no sign of relent-
ing. She never asked for news Of me; she
had withdrawn her confidence from him;
she never spoke to any one about her son;
she sat silent all the day long, pale and
stern; her heart was full of bitterness.
When Dan began to talk about Joshua
and to regret the mistortunes which befell
him, / considered that 1t would be well to
conceal my share in them aud the fact Of
his treachery. When he came home again
should he ever come hOme-it would be
time to consider what steps should be
taken. For the present it seemed better to
leave the old man in the belief that Josh
ua's troubles were undeserved. Indeed, it
would have been difficult to persuade him
that his own nephew could be guilty of so
foul and dastardly o crime. For my own
part, l hoped that he would never come
home again. "A life for life" said
bitterly. 'As he destroyed my Wills life
so let his be taken away"
1t was in the dark days of December that
we came back to ROusion. The wintry
weather suited the misery of my mind.
Yet after time the old charm of the sea
fell upon me and soOthed me. Dan painted
and calked the little boat. / put out to
sea in her again during the soft, smooth
mornings common in winter on the south
coast, when the sun floats bathed in soft
yellow mist, itself disk of molten gold
when, if you see boat, her masts and hull
are wrapped round with yellow haze, like
those of float in o dream. Sometimes
bdu Win duu VIC VI IOWSu,
silent, thinking of the days that could
come no more.
There was no one like him." said Dan,
one day when we had been sitting quiet
in the boat for an hour and more There
never was no one like him, and never will
be. Joshua had his good points. For a
rough night at sea and ready hand,
Joshua never had his equal. But Joshua
was grumpy. He took after his father in
such respects. Now Mr.. Campion, he was
always laughing, always talking, always
ready to do hands turn for everybody.
Nobody like him. And to think OFF
Don't, Dan! don'tr murmured with
the tears coming into my eyes.
We had dreary Christmas that winter,
though after service in the poor old barn,
which had gone nearly roohess since Dan
went away. the Rev. Mr.. Burden came to
take his dinner with us. A turkey from
the farm yard furnished the meal, and az
forwards Dan, with a guilty look, pro-
duced bottle Of rum. Mr. Burden shook
his head sadly, but spent the rest of the
day over the drink in company with Dan,
and departed in the evening with legs
which showed tendency to tie them
selves into knots.
Then the days began to grow longer,
and the spring flowers appeared on the
Underelif, till all the ground was covered